It's
a fact that nature doesn't always accommodate the desire to dive or
snorkel. On those days when the water is too rough, it's the perfect
time to visit Uyumil Che, or the "Monkey Reserve" as it is
referred to in Mahahual /Majahual and the Costa Maya. The monkey reserve
originated as a place to reintroduce spider monkeys into their native
habitat here on the Costa Maya. It is illegal in Mexico to make a pet
of a wild monkey, without a very expensive permit, but it doesn't stop
people from taking them home. You may even see other animals there as
well. But this is not a zoo, so the animals you will see are those that
have been recently brought in, are injured, or have been determined
to be so tame that they will never be successful in the wild.

As
you can see from this picture of a baby spider monkey that was born at
the farm, that they are about as cute as anything you've ever seen. The
problem is that people fall in love with these sweet lovable little babies.
But like any baby, it soon grows up. As spider monkeys grow up, they can
be quite a pain, destroying things, stealing and basically becoming a
nuisance. When this happens, people don't know what to do with them, and
the monkeys usually end up either chained or in cages. The Monkey farm
takes these unwanted monkeys and tries to introduce them back into the
wild. The nonprofit organization accepts donations, and is privately funded.

Cheryl
is an animal lover and neighbor. She raised the mother of this baby
monkey, but has realized that the monkeys belong in the wild and supports
the monkey farm's efforts. Just like many human babies, this little
fellow won't give up his purple blanket.

The
last time I visited (February of 2003) I had a chance to feed this baby
spider monkey. You can see how tiny he is. He held my finger as I fed
him one ounce of formula and I noticed that spider monkeys have four fingers
with no thumb. Their feet however, have five digits with an opposing "thumb."
You can tell by the number of pictures that I was quite enamored of this
little guy.

Monkey's
aren't the only type of animal you can find at the Monkey farm. At the
time I was there, there were over 20 wild pecaries. We often see groups
of pecaries crossing the road as we are driving along the jungle road,
but I never manage to get a picture of them, so I was pretty happy to
get this picture.